Wednesday 11 June, 8pm. Hampstead Garden Suburb synagogue, Norrice Lea, N2. Illustrated talk by Adam Blitz. Over the past two years, reports began to surface that the Jobar synagogue near Damascus, dating from the Middle Ages and associated with the cult of the Prophet Elijah, had been destroyed in the current strife. Together with the available video evidence and coverage in the Arab media , Adam Blitz has looked into the fate of the synagogue

With Aymenn Jawad al-Tamimi As Islamist parties sweep to power across the Arab world, what does the future hold for the region’s non-Muslim minorities? Aymenn Jawad Al-Tamimi is a student at Brasenose College, Oxford University, and is a fellow at the Middle East Forum, where he has worked since January 2012. He joined the Philadelphia-based think-tank as an intern in August 2009. He is a prolific commentator on Middle East politics and his work